Fisher - Landowner Observations

Fisher have the distinctive mustelid long tubular body and relatively short legs, small head with short ears and bright dark eyes, and a relatively long tail. Their lush pelt with long guard hairs has long been sought by trappers and fur buyers. These agile, semi-arboreal carnivores of North America originally ranged through the forested habitats of Canada, extending southwards in the forests of the Appalachian and Pacific Coast mountains of eastern and western regions, respectively (Graham and Graham, 1994).

However, Fisher populations declined signifi cantly in southern portions of their range, including the forest fringe of north central Alberta, following European settlement and the combined effects of extensive habitat changes (logging, settlement, and agriculture) and trapping activities.

The Cooking Lake Moraine is a glacial remnant of the Laurentian Ice Sheet some 22,000 years ago (Edmonton Geological Society,1993). The moraine lies roughly 30-40 km east of Edmonton, Alberta, from 53°10’ to 53°45’N and 112°40’ to 113°15’ W, covering an area with maximum dimensions roughly 60 km north-south and 20-30 km east-west – some 400 km2 in total extent. It is an upland area of steeply rolling knob and kettle terrain formed in association with the stagnant ice sheet. Apparently, the kettle depressions formed under the last isolated blocks of ice that became trapped in the rubble and settled into the accumulated glacial till.

For Reading: Fisher on the Cooking Lake Moraine Alberta